Sony: no quad-core handsets until 2013

Techradar: Sony has only just got out of the starting blocks on its solo quest into the mobile market, but it's already being left behind after it confirmed it won't be launching a quad-core handset until 2013.

Smart phones don't need quad-core processors yet. Dual core is good enough since it's not like people are major editing videos, playing games like BF3, etc. on their phones.

Maybe in another year or two if mobile phones make the next "leap" in technology they will be justified. But right now it is mainly for bragging rights and to bump the price up slightly since people seem content on spending a ton of money on a phone.

Tablets have proven to be capable of handling professional-grade applications like image and video editing, so quad-core CPUs for tablets are more sensible. Phones, however, will not need more cores for a long time. Honestly, they shouldn't have even needed more than single-core CPUs, based on the performance of the iPhone 4 and the Windows Phone handsets that are well-optimized for single-core CPUs.